1. Field
Aspects of the invention relate to coin holders and in particular coin holders for vehicles.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Many motor vehicles include coin holders as standard equipment. These coin holders are located in easy to reach places in the passenger area, for example in the center console. Such coin holders provide simple and quick availability of change for the driver, yet store the change in a stable and silent manner.
A coin holder is known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 6,033,004. The '004 patent discloses a coin holder having several parallel openings for the accommodation of the coins. These openings include two opposing sidewalls of substantially the same height and a concave wall confining the opening in radial relation to the inserted coins. An elastic spring carrier projects from a sidewall and presses the inserted coin against the opposite sidewall. The coin is thus held in the coin opening.
A similar solution is disclosed in DE 31 21 952 A1. However, here, the coin accommodation openings are not parallel, but rather aligned in rows next to each other. The coin holder includes a sidewall being formed as a spring tab, the base of which is joined with the base of the coin holder. The other sidewall includes a recess that allows for the extraction of the coin with a fingertip.
In both above-described solutions, only coins of certain pre-determined thicknesses are satisfactorily held, whereas securing very thick or very thin coins is problematic. In addition, the insertion depth is constant and thus these coin holders cannot accommodate coins of different diameters. In particular, large diameter coins often have a smaller thickness than that of small diameter coins. Due to this, coins with smaller diameters sink deeper in the coin receptacle and, if they come to lie next to other coins, it becomes difficult to remove them.